‘One son is gone, another is in jail’: Father demands accountability from Kerala Police

The 18-year-old Mohammed Aslam was not known to have been involved in criminal activities, nor was his elder brother, a 22-year-old BCom graduate, but that did not stop the Kerala Police in Kodungallur, in Thrissur district, from portraying these innocent boys as criminals and subjecting them to brutal assault.

Their father, Naushad, a taxi driver, has been left to grieve for his sons, as Aslam is no more in this world; he alleges that the trauma his younger son endured inside a police station contributed to his death by suicide.

Despite the existence of laws and regulations, and repeated incidents of custodial deaths and innocent people taking their own lives because they are unable to bear the trauma, there seems to be no end to police brutality, as personnel involved are rarely punished in time; by the time a court-ordered probe is completed, the officers concerned may have already retired from service.

In a Facebook post written in Malayalam dated October 6, 2026, Naushad, a taxi driver from Pazhuparambil, named Circle Inspector Baiju and Sub-Inspector Athul Mohanan of Kodungallur Janamaithri Police Station as the officers who allegedly tortured his sons during their three-day detention, and demanded that they be held accountable.

According to Naushad, he received a telephone call from a person identifying himself as the circle inspector on September 27, at around 6.45 pm, informing him that Aslam was at the station. When he arrived after 10.30 pm, he was allegedly told that his younger son had threatened a girl and obtained 20 sovereigns of gold and ₹50,000 from her, supposedly using the proceeds to purchase an Innova car.

Aslam denied the allegations, telling his father that he had been in a relationship with the girl for about two years, but that her family had taken away her phone after discovering the relationship. Unable to contact her, he had allegedly visited her home and asked for water, prompting her family to call the police.

Naushad alleged that his elder son, who was also detained, witnessed officers assaulting Aslam, including kicking him in the abdomen, squeezing his genitals, and repeatedly beating him. Unable to bear watching his brother suffer, the elder sibling allegedly told the police that he himself had committed the acts attributed to Aslam.

The father further alleged that the brothers were detained for three days before being produced before the relevant authorities, while the arrest documents recorded a later date than the one on which they had actually been taken into custody. He said his lawyer advised him to sign the papers so that bail proceedings could continue.

Naushad also accused the police of filming his elder son at the station and circulating the footage on Instagram and through news channels, claiming that the publicity had devastated the young man's life.

Aslam, meanwhile, allegedly remained in juvenile custody for four days. His father said he had informed a Juvenile Justice Board member, Vineetha, that the boy had sustained injuries and required medical attention, but Aslam later told him that he had not been examined by a doctor.

Two days after returning home on bail, Aslam visited his elder brother in the sub-jail with their mother. The brothers reportedly broke down in tears during the meeting. Later, Aslam shared food with his youngest brother, a Class V pupil, before spending about an hour talking with his father that night.

The following morning, Naushad found Aslam unresponsive. He believes the anguish of witnessing the alleged violence and seeing his brother imprisoned after taking responsibility to protect him contributed to the tragedy.

“One son is gone, and another is in jail. I do not know what to say to console her,” he wrote, referring to his wife.